Tips on Enhancing Security Via Lighting Fixtures

There are nearly many different ways to secure a specific area through physical means. Some security companies prefer to use more defined security defenses such as fences, locks, patrolling guards, guard dogs, and so on. All of these security defenses are great and work quite well, however, there is one security defense that is more psychologically demeaning to a criminal, and is generally lest costly to the company seeking physical security means. What is this this means of security that seems way too good to be true? It surrounds you daily, and it is practically necessary for every normal person to live their life ever single day. It is light.

Lighting isn't a natural occurrence at night, obviously, so companies seeking such security measures must install specific lighting fixtures. The type of lighting fixture being installed depends on many factors such as environment and cost. Some types of lighting fixtures are more costly compared to others. Florescent lighting, for example, is cheaper to run over time compared to many other lighting fixtures.

When it comes to businesses, there has to be a parking lot to contain all of the worker's cars during the day or night, depending on when they are working. As soon as the sun dips down under the horizon, lighting should be illuminate the parking lot to ensure that no worker gets mugged, raped, or have their rights infringed on in any other manner. Also, since there is imminent danger in dark, unlit parking lots, the company can suffer vicarious liability charges since they didn't take the time, money, nor effort to install some sort of lighting fixtures to help increase the well-being of their workers. Lighting fixtures such as the highly successful "perimeter lighting" goes a long way to light up an area, which can show if any intruders are hiding within the vicinity. Perimeter lighting is when a person, or company, sets up lights on the outer rim of the property in which they are looking to secure, hence, the name perimeter lighting. This setup of lighting allows security guards and other people know if there is anyone trying to break in an area from almost any entrance point on the property.

There are more in depth definitions to perimeter lighting. According to the textbook, there are four popular forms of perimeter lighting which includes: floodlights, streetlights, fresnal units, and searchlights. Floodlights are defined as a concentrated beam of light that can be pointed directly at a fence, or any other sort of boundary to see arrogant intruders. Streetlights give off a low-intensity light over an area, rather than a specific spot like the floodlight. Streetlights are most often used in parking lots as perimeter lighting. Fresnal units dispel of a "long, narrow, horizontal beam of light ideally suited for lighting boundaries without glare" (Introduction to Security, 2^nd Edition, 82). Searchlights are much less definitive when it comes to their placing, as they are portable and can easily be adjusted . Searchlights give off a high-intensity beam of light. Due to their easy portability, searchlights are also used in emergency situations where a specific area needs to be quickly lit, for whatever reason necessary.

For fixture lighting to work, no one has to even be within the vicinity protecting the property. With the presence of light, most people naturally think that the area is populated by an anonymous amount of people, nonetheless, still there's someone inside. A criminal has the intent to usually convert money, or items within the property to their own use, known in criminal terms as larceny, or grand larceny, depending on the amount taken. Having a single light on in a household, or some florescent lights turned on inside of a house or building can deceive a criminal into thinking someone is home, most likely turning them away. In many instances, burglars don't wish to harm or kill anyone, as they have a higher chance of getting caught, and if they are caught, their sentence would have heavily increased incarceration time on their hands, unless, of course, they were planning on killing the person that was, or should have been on the property at the time of their initial break-in.

However, with any security device or fixture, whether it be lighting, cameras, locks, fences, or even a door, it can still be subjected to criminal vandalism. If a criminal sees a light in an area that he wants to break into, that criminal may go to specific lengths in order to destroy the security barrier in front of them, just go reach their goal of stealing another persons' items. In order to evade the mess of a companies lighting fixture becoming vandalized, the company should have the lighting fixtures placed in a high area where a criminal would not be able to normally reach. For example, some lights can be placed on top of a thirty foot pole, and to ensure that a criminal cannot reach it, make sure there are no high fences located near the pole containing the lighting fixture. Another way to ensure that a light fixture doesn't become vandalized is to secure the circuit breaker, and all other major electrical components of the lighting fixtures circuit. If a criminal were to snip the wires of the lighting fixture's circuit, it would be just as good to them as if they had really broken the light itself. Both scenarios create the absence of light, darkness, which allows criminals to easily mug, rape, and do any other action to an innocent person that stomps on and infringes upon their natural rights. Keep all wires connected to the lighting fixture underground in a hidden track, and keep the circuit breaker locked at all times, unless it needs to be opened by a electrician or an administrator of the building.

Aside from perimeter lighting, other areas trying to be secured should also be adequately lit as well. Places such as alleyways, darkened corners, all entrances and exits, windows, and fire escapes should all be lit sufficiently. On the inside of buildings and structures, the lighting should not be as bight as outside since outside lighting usually needs to cover a larger span of area. Using these type of lights inside would merely blind everyday workers, innocent citizens, and even security personnel patrolling the area. Instead, keep more dim lights lit inside. Like I said before, florescent lights do the trick well, as they are cheap in the long run, and the amount of light they give off is the perfect amount since it doesn't blind people, but it keeps people and objects in the vicinity visible to the anatomical eye of security personnel and other innocent people in the area.

Overall, lighting is a weapon in physical securities arsenal that can be somewhat cheap, and it is simple to use. When placing lights in a specific area, it is almost common sense which light to choose. If you want a high-intensity beam looking down on a specific area, you use floodlights. But if you want a lower-density light that casts itself over more of an area, you can use a streetlight type of light to get the job done. Some places use lights to deter robbery altogether when they close. Keeping the lights on give the criminal the illusion that someone may be present in that store or house, and that person could easily have a defensive weapon on them as well. Lights also help Closed Circuit Televisions and other security cameras easily catch footage of a robbery that happens overnight, especially if the cameras have no night vision type of mode. However, easy come, easy go. Lighting is easily vandalized if not properly setup, so the person in head of setting up lighting needs to take all obstacles and factors into play when constructing a plan to place the lights themselves. Lighting is easily one of the best and most reliable tools the field of physical security has to offer, as it both safe and effective

Work(s) Cited:
Hess, Karen M. Introduction To Private Security 2nd Edition. St. Paul, MN: West Publishing Company, 1988.